I recently retired and have taken up smallbore rifle and pistol shooting. Bullseye competition looks very interesting, especially since that is what I do at range practice. My question is do I need to shoot all 3 guns - .22, center fire and 1911? Or can I just shoot the .22 only. Later I can acquire the other 2 pistols.I'm not that good a shot, but I like to improve my skills and compete.Thanks

You do not need to shoot all three guns. Several people at our matches just shoot .22. If you are planning on shooting a 2700 with just the .22 just let the Match Director know. At smaller ranges generally preference for relays is given to shooters who shoot the entire 2700.

.22 is good to start. Shoot it until you can shoot, say, 90%. Next, get a .45 and use it for center fire and .45 until you can shoot it 90%. If you think you need a CF gun at this point, go for it although you might think about a 1911 and add CMP matches, instead.

http://compete.nra.org/documents/pdf/compete/rules/rul_conv_pistol_14.pdf 22.1 - .22 Caliber Only Aggregate Match - This competition is open to any competitor otherwise eligible

to compete in Conventional Pistol competition.

22.2 Course of Fire - Shooters will shoot standard courses of fire shoulder-to-shoulder with other

shooters competing in open NRA Pistol competition. However, shooters will shoot the below described

pistol in all three phases of a standard 2700 aggregate instead of changing pistols during the center-fire

and .45 caliber matches. They will record aggregates in the same manner as other shooters shooting

more than one caliber of pistol, but will compete only against other eligible .22 Caliber Only Aggregate

shooters and will only be eligible for awards designated for the .22 Caliber Aggregate Competition events

except as provided in Rule 22.1. Just as each open class competitor will compile 900 point and 2700-

point aggregates using more than one gun, the .22 Caliber only competitors will compile those

aggregates with only one firearm as described, in NRA Pistol Rule(s). I would not do this if your going to compete using a 45 later. The 22 being easy to shoot will put you in a higher clasification then if you just shot the 45 only. Get classified with the 45, then shoot the 22.